Monday, May 30, 2011

Cedar Point!

Yesterday I decided to take a little time off for myself, and visit what is arguably my favorite park of the 15 I've been to: Cedar Point!

Driving through Covington and Piqua, I hit every green light on the way to I75. I love it when that happens.

I have a lot of people ask me why I drive all the way up there by myself. For one: I don't mind driving.. I love to drive, always have since I got my license and drove everywhere I could that was allowed (and some that weren't allowed, lol). Another thing is that I occasionally need a day just for me. Every now and then I like to just get away from everyone and everything (absolutely no offense is intended here) but it's nice to go to a park and do what you want to do, when you want to do it, without several other people trying to argue with you. It's also nice because if they call out for a single rider, I get to jump right on the train that's loading!

I also have a lot of friends that work there, and I tend to spend more time at certain rides where my friends are working. It's a 3 hour drive from my house to CP, and I'm going to make it worthwhile.

I started my hour of morning ERT with a sweet ride on Maverick, and rode Millennium Force and Raptor during the ERT time as well. Once the general public rolled in, it got busy fast.. not only that but the sun was blazing hot and reflecting off the lake, and it was humid as hell. I really wished I'd brought things for Soak City.. it was that damn hot. I waited an hour for Dragster because I didn't get a chance to ride it on opening day (then again, not many people did). I learned a long time ago to NEVER enter a long line at an amusement park on a hot day without a cup of water. Even so, only half of Dragster's queue is covered with tent shades, and I nearly passed out from the heat. I decided after that ride would be a good time to eat and rehydrate. After that, I noticed that all of the lines had gotten pretty long. I spent the next several hours riding coasters with short waits such as Gemini, Raptor, Magnum, Blue Streak, and Mean Streak. I also took a break and rode the Giant Wheel, and watched All Wheels Extreme. I also took advantage of a deal they had: hot dog, chips and a drink for less than $5!

It was around 4 pm when there was a sudden cool breeze off the lake (there had been no breeze all day), and I noticed clouds building up on the horizon. I checked my radar and was horrified to see a bow echo heading straight for Cedar Point. It was moving fast and looked to be very severe, so I went out to my car for shelter (I had food in there too and was getting a bit hungry). It was bad.. the clouds got darker and darker, and the lightning was far too close for my comfort. It kept getting worse.. the sky turned green and the rain went flying sideways with pea-sized hail in it. It finally died down after an hour of torrential rain, hail, insane lightning, and strong winds. I went back into the park after it cleared up to find several areas of the park flooded, and learned that Millennium and Dragster had been hit by lightning and wouldn't reopen for the rest of the night.

My first ride after the storm was Magnum.. I looked out to the east on the lift hill, and saw lightning bolts over the water from the storm that had passed us.. now that was pretty wicked to see. I got to see my friends Kelsey, Ben, Casandra, Kyle, Eric, and Adam yesterday. It's great to go up there and get to spend time with people you don't see often. I didn't get to see my friends Erin and Matt, and that made me sad.. I miss them. I ended my night with a ride on red Gemini, and headed out.

My ride count: 3 Maggie, 3 Blue Streak, 3 Gemini (2 red, 1 blue), 2 Raptor, 2 Mean Streak, and one ride each on Maverick, Millie, Dragster, Wicked Twister, Power Tower (space shot), and Giant Wheel.


I've discovered the reason why I have had so much trouble making it home from Cedar Point in the past.. I get so excited to go there that I run from ride to ride and literally wear myself out. I also haven't eaten very well in the past while at the park and I tend to underhydrate myself, so it got to the point where I was sleeping in my car in gas station parking lots. I'd like to avoid that.
Yesterday I must have drank my weight in water, and ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner and made sure all three were a sufficiently balanced meal. I also took breaks to sit down, I rode their beautiful ferris wheel and watched All Wheels Extreme, which was very good. I also packed a Monster Energy to drink on the way home in case I started getting tired. I made it home last night and I'm proud of myself.
I still consider myself a ride warrior. I just can't run for 14 hours straight when the heat index is in the 90s.. you have to be smart and take care of yourself.

1 comment:

  1. WOOOO First comment <3 lol Ok thats all i really wanted to do was show you some love :P I know how much it sucks starteing out in the blogging world :P mine only sees a few ppl that day i post something new, unless their looking at my subpages >.<

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